Welcome to the all-new colour scheme from the Poll Bludger, the psephological website that goes up to 11. I have my doubts about the alternating black-and-khaki backgrounds in comments, but fancy that the colour scheme is otherwise inoffensive at worst. Anyway, I can easily replace it with another theme if nobody likes it, such is the magic of WordPress. This is all timed to herald the arrival of the Poll Bludger’s federal election guide, which at this stage I must confess falls a good deal short of Adam Carr’s magnum opus. Entries are presently limited to outlines of seats’ locations and histories, with further detail on candidates to follow as time allows.
UPDATE: White on black, while good for the environment, is apparently bad on the eyes. Plan B activated.
Trying to read white on black just hurts the eyes.
So says this lurker.
Hi William,
I actually liked Plan A but the content rather than the style is what draws me back,
Incidentally in the masthead it appears that Gough may be pleasuring himself in his It’s Time t-shirt (how many other poll bludgers are like me and still have their tee?) Is the photo genuine or just an expression of your views of Gough’s legacy 9with which i at least partly agree)
Jesus, OC, that’s exactly what it looks like. I’m afraid my respect for the office will not let this stand. I will now work on making the header fit for family consumption – until then, avert your eyes.
At the cost of a small amount of pixelation, Gough’s dignity is now restored. Little Pattie is standing next to him in the
” rel=”nofollow”>original photo – perhaps that had something to do with it.
Could the font size please be increased to make the writing a bit easier to read?
William, could you please make the font a little bigger?
Otherwise, I like the new colour scheme.
And, you do a terrific job as moderator. Thanks for this terrific site!
Hi William
In the Fed guide, the links to the individual seats don’t work.
I’d second what Evan says about possibly a bigger font, as well as kudos for your fantastic site and hard work.
Excellent work. The link to Bruce brings up Holt. Labor’s 1966 Kennedy defeat was aided by a weak candidate the son of their deputy Senate leader who lacked a local profile.
Looks very stylish William.
Oh, forgot to say. A good edition might be to make the banner at the top a link back to http://www.pollbludger.com
I find that useful on many sites. Easy way to get to ‘home’ after posting a reply or the like. Easier than the home button at the top right.
The links in the federal election guide work for me, but the Batman link brings up Melbourne.
I’m not sure if this is the best place to make this comment; for Bradfield, apparently the Labor candidate is one Victoria Brookman…
… as an addendum to the guide…
Well, this is much better. Glad you swallowed your pride and listened to me!
Thank Gof the L*tham handshake has gone (shudders at memory). I agree the font is too small for us middle-aged folk.
I don’t remember Gough looking so svelte William.
Also I miss the link at the top of the page to the previous thread
Mungo McCallum wrote a column in 1972 on having seen Gouigh in his togs, and on what a splendid physique he had for a man of (at that time) 56, and also on certain other impressive physical attributes…
Adam,
Surely you’re not suggesting are you that when the Whitlams moved house and they’d finished hanging all their artwork on the walls that Margaret commented: “Well hung Gough”. 🙂
William, your patented white and blue definitely suits the cool reason of this site better than the previous one. I thought I had entered a khaki election.
oooooo its GORGEOUS
Gough always took good care of himself which is why he is still alive at 91.
William, thanks for enlarging the font, much easier to read!
Ok you poll bludgers you’ve seen the pay pal donation on the front page? So click it and keep this site alive.
William
very nice new look, very clean. For other readers, if you need to enlarge the font, replace your browser with firefox http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
You can enlarge text as much as you like with Very convenient. Plus you’ll be striking a blow for diversity!
My previous post had the control key sequence to enlarge the text, but WordPress must have stripped it out. The control-plus key enlarges text, up to humungous if you require, and control-minus reduces font size.
Two suggestions
the band with “home” pluss the banner take up fair amount of space, maybe remove the band.
It would seem some on the site don’t appreciate the task in front of Labor in terms of winning seats, concentrating more on headline poll figures. Can I suggest a simple table somewhere saying
To Win Government Labor must win 17 of these 34 seats
Cowan (WA)
Macquarie (NSW)
Swan (WA)
Hindmarsh (SA)
Kingston (SA)
Bonner (Qld)
Wakefield (SA)
Parramatta (NSW)
Makin (SA)
Braddon (Tas)
Hasluck (WA)
Stirling (WA)
Wentworth (NSW)
Bass (Tas)
Solomon (CLP NT)
Moreton (Qld)
Lindsay (NSW)
Eden-Monaro (NSW)
Bennelong (NSW)
Dobell (NSW)
McMillan (Vic)
Deakin (Vic)
Corangamite (Vic)
Boothby (SA)
Blair (Qld)
La Trobe (Vic)
Paterson (NSW)
Herbert (Qld)
Kalgoorlie (WA)
McEwen (Vic)
Longman (Qld)
Sturt (SA)
Robertson (NSW)
Petrie (Qld)
Maybe even links to allow comments on each to be posted with local feedback/comments.
If the “headline poll figures” stay strong for Labor, then the seats will take care of themselves.
Look at 1996. Not only did the Coalition sweep up the marginals. But they gained longshot seats like Griffith, Lilley and Lindsay as well.
Ifonly, Labor has 60 seats. It only needs to win 16 seats, not 17.
150/2=75. 60+16=76. QED.
Actually it was a little complex
I was working on the basis
60 Labor
87 Lib Nat CLP
3 independent
I guessed 2 out of 3 independents would like to kick the coalition.
Labor gaining 13 + 2 independents = Coalition losing 13 +1 independent.
but
I had to take into account that Cowan or Swan currently Labor might actually change hands to coalition. So I listed the 4 most marginal Labor seats and the 30 most marginal coalition.
To govern in their own right they need to win 16 + the 4 they currently hold on a slim margin ie 20 of the 34 seats listed